A popular form of advertisement by companies, organizations, political parties and the like is to utilize writing instruments such as pens and pencils on which the name, logo, etc. of the entity is inscribed. This is usually accomplished by printing or inscribing the identifying indicia of the entity on the barrel of the instrument by the manufacturer or by an intermediary in a batch-type operation.
The common technique in use today is to apply such advertising indicia to the barrel of the pen or pencil in any well-known manner. Note only is such a technique expensive and requires set-up time for each customer but when the useful life of the instrument is over, the instrument with the indicia thereon is discarded. Even with ballpoint pens having replaceable cartridges, the time and expense of replacing the cartridge induces the user to simply replace the useless instrument with a new pen. Furthermore, as the advertising indicia is usually applied to the pen barrel, the hand of the user obscures the indicia during use losing some of the effect of the pen as an advertising medium.
In a departure from the common technique of inscribing the advertising indicia on the barrel of the writing instrument, U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,615 issued to H. W. Brewer shows an advertising device applied to the top of a pencil or the like. However, in the Brewer patent, a screw-threaded mounting arrangement is used so that modification of the pencil is required. Furthermore, such an arrangement could not be used on a ballpoint pen.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,069 issued to R. S. Gordon shows a container detachably mounted on the upper end portion of a pen or pencil of the ballpoint type but such a container is totally different from an advertising device and cannot be considered as such.